Before I give my thoughts and before anyone quotes 2 Tim. 1:7, “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear…” let me set the record straight. The fear I speak of has to do with what we fear will happen to others. Rom. 11:20 states, “Be not highminded but fear…” Rom. 13:7 states, “Render therefore to all their dues; tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom ; fear to whom fear…” It is evident that there is good fear and bad fear. Paul told the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 2:3, “I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.” In 2 Cor. 7:11, Paul recognizes the fruit of fear…there is a good side of fear.

Now please look at 2 Cor. 11:1-3 and pay attention to v.3 “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.”

Then again in 2 Cor. 12:20 we see “For I fear, lest, when I come, I shall not find you such as I would…” The word “fear” there is Greek “phobeo” meaning phobia. If you have a phobia about high places, it means heights alarm you and you do not feel safe. Please read Eph. 6:5-6 and Phil. 2:12 which both mention “fear and trembling.”

Hebrews 4:1 “Let us therefore fear…” The fear here was concerning “any of you should seem to come short of it.”

Paul the Apostle had a phobia about people that he loved being corrupted by satan. 2 Cor. 11:3. In verse 2 he said, “For I am jealous over you (not of) with Godly (not ungodly) jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” Look at Isa. 49:15 and in John 10:10-13 we see the difference between a shepherd and a hireling.

Look at 1 Thess. 2:1-14 and notice vss. 7,8,9,10, and 11 which are great verses showing Paul’s heart for the people and their success and safety!

Look at Gal. 4:8-21 and notice v9 where he addresses some who obviously turned “again to weak and beggarly elements…” and in v.11 he said, “I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.”

His fear was that after all the preaching, teaching and praying, they would go back to where they came from and return to the old way of living and thinking.

True men of God weep for, pray for , fear for, hurt for, and love those who fall for the traps of satan.

Then in Romans 9:1-3 and 10:1, God-called preachers have a fear about people dying lost without hope, without Christ.

True men of God are not in the ministry for money. We are in the ministry of men, women, boys and girls…and we fear that we lose them to the world, the flesh and the devil. 1 Cor. 4:9-21; 2 Cor. 5:11-15

The two classes of people I fear most for are the Lost and the Wayward Christian.

I rejoice when I see souls saved and Saints safe. If you are saved and in a good Bible-believing Church, pray for your pastor. Understand that he does not leave his burden for the flock at the door of the Church building. (Please read Acts 20:28-29) We are on call 24/7 and we are not hirelings and we do not flee when the wolf cometh. We stand in the gap and make up the hedge… Ezek. 22:30 “And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land,”